An unnamed Facebook source told technology site The Verge that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is most likely to announce a name change at the company’s annual conference, Connect, on 28 October, or possibly even sooner.
The rebrand would place Facebook’s various products and projects - including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus, along with other ventures such as the smart glasses recently developed with Ray Ban - under the control of one umbrella company, thus making its most significant and signature product, the Facebook social network, merely one aspect of the new parent brand.
Google underwent a similar restructuring in 2015 when it created the holding company Alphabet, a top-down body that was responsible for both the firm’s search engine business - i.e. Google - as well as its other projects, including the burgeoning driverless car initiative.
Facebook’s rebrand could help it to disassociate the controversy surrounding its main social media platform...